Content on the following pages is a review of some of the search strategies you learned about in the online assignment. Don't forget, successful researchers should:
- Brainstorm keywords. It may help to think of synonyms as well as related terms, including some that are very specific and others that are more general. For example, if your topic was social media, you may want to search:
- Synonyms: social network, user-generated content
- Specific terms: Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, marketing, influencer
- General terms: media, mass media, Internet, communications
- Read some background information, especially for an unfamiliar topic:
- It's hard to come up with keywords if you don't know about the topic yet. You also may find it helpful to read "the big picture" before diving into scholarly articles, which are often very specific and narrow in scope.
- Encyclopedia are perfect background resources. To find some for your topic, navigate to Wikipedia or Brittanica Academic (also accessible from the library tab of myRedDragon by clicking the Databases tab in the Library Search channel, then clicking the letter B). Brittanica Academic is an excellent resource for encyclopedia articles.
- Search using your keywords for an encyclopedia article that looks relevant.
- Hint: usually more general terms will work better for encyclopedia articles than specific terms.
- Select an encyclopedia article and skim it to get an overview of the topic.
- Skimming strategy: Look at headings and focus your reading on the sections that are most relevant and/or that you know the least about.
- Skim for about five minutes.
- Use Boolean to combine your search terms.
